Email Marketing: sending HTML VS sending text emails

Feb 17
08:44

2009

Aaron Goldberg

Aaron Goldberg

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There are several ways to determine what type of emails you should be sending and it really helps to know your audience.

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HTML or Text Emails for Email Marketers
The idea of what type of email to send to one’s recipients has frequently been debated by email marketers. Some believe that text emails are the only way to go while others prefer HTML. Then,Email Marketing: sending HTML VS sending text emails Articles there are others on the fence that like plain text with a little HTML mixed in here or there. There are several ways to determine what type of emails you should be sending and it really helps to know your audience. For example, if your subscribers frequently praise your text emails then you might want to stick with this method. More likely than not if you use all text for your marketing email purposes you won’t get much response. There is one easy way to figure out what type of email will work best for your subscribers and that is to test them.

Send out an HTML email to a small portion of your email list and then an email that is exactly the same, but with plain text. Then, sit back and see which one gets more bites. It is almost guaranteed that the HTML email will garner more interest and response than the plain text emails. All too often email marketer forget to test their market, but this is the easiest and most cost effective way to find out what works. When you send an email in text and it doesn’t get returned and you send the same email in HTML and it has a 75% return rate then you will certainly notice that this is a worthwhile way to send your emails. Sure, the test will take a little bit of time and you will have to track the results. But, if you don’t do a small test to find out what type of emails your customers want to receive then you are doing yourself a injustice.

Grab Viewers’ Attention
The point behind the HTML newsletters and other types of correspondence is that it immediately draws you in and gives you a focal point. Ads and other types of marketing material that is drab and without a lot of thought and polish simply won’t be noticed by your subscribers. HTML emails are more popular because they have more graphics and show what your company is all about. HTML emails reinforce the brand while showing readers all types of information from healthy eating and dining out to cell phone plans and saving money.